


Queer as Day and an Ace up his Sleeve

by samcat



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Asexual!Jim, First Meeting, M/M, Pride, Pride Parade, assassination? But not really, planned assassination? Maybe, queer!moran
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 23:19:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10581561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samcat/pseuds/samcat
Summary: Sebastian and Jim are assassin and target. But instead of a murder, a relationship starts taking form.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I accidentally wrote two pride parade fics in a row whoopsie. I promise I have other stuff in the works too, but it’s not close to being finished yet.
> 
> Here’s the message that prompted this fic:
> 
> _“Personal Headcanon: Sebastian and Jim met at a gay pride parade. Sebastian was supposed to kill Jim, and Jim was aware. The two went to a pub after having a great day at the parade and realized they liked each other.”_

Jim was well aware of the assassin’s presence far before his snipers and bodyguards were. How this man could ever hope to blend in anywhere was a mystery to him - he was tall as a tree and with muscles to match, had hair so blond it almost burned your eyes to look at and a stance that, on it’s own, could probably strike fear into just about anyone.

But somehow, here, surrounded by everyone else who was dressed up with rainbow flags, plastic flower crowns and capes… it worked. Had Jim not known he would be here, he wasn’t sure he would have given him a second glance. Something about the man’s mannerisms, at least from afar, made him fit in. Something about him made him seem like he belonged here just as much as anybody else.

Jim had skipped out on the flower crown himself, but he did sport the asexuality flag as a cape and held a rainbow flag on a small plastic pole in his hand.

“We’ve got him in sight,” the voice in his earpiece told him.  
_About bloody time_ , he thought. He could have been killed by now. Making a mental note to hire some better look-outs once he got home - and dispose of these ones appropriately - he forced himself to look away from the assassin before he started comparing his face to the meticulously sculpted faces of old greek statues.

Falling in love with the man who was out to kill him, wouldn’t that be something. He smiled to himself as he toyed with the thought.

-

The parade went without incident - the assassin apparently having decided not to try to murder him in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses. A smart, albeit boring, move, Jim thought.

He had slowly but surely moved closer and closer to Jim during the parade, despite Jim’s best efforts to keep a distance between them. Jim was far from unfamiliar with how to navigate crowds and could usually make even the most persistent follower lose him. But this man was something else. Someone who only got more and more interesting as the day went on.

For the last quarter of the parade they had walked side-by-side, looking more like boyfriends than an assassin and his target.

Jim had kept a steady watch on him through the corner of his eye, while still trying to maintain a happy and relaxed smile on his face that was suitable for a pride parade. He had thought this man was more of a gun type, but by the attempts to get close he had started to suspect a knife or a poisoned needle might soon be stabbed into him.

His own snipers might as well be asleep as far as he knew - he hadn’t heard a word from them in ages. And while he could technically speak to them, either to confirm that they were still awake or as a means to wake them up, he was reluctant to do so. Suddenly starting to talk out loud to himself was something that was bound to get him a lot of the wrong kind of attention, both from the assassin and the rest of the pride goers.

So instead of doing that, he decided to strike up some small talk with his supposed-to-be killer.

“First pride? You look a bit stiff.”  
The man looked at him, eyebrows raised, momentarily shocked silent by the casual remark. Stumbling slightly over his words, he spoke quickly when he got his voice back.  
“It’s really that obvious, huh?”  
“Not really. I’m just exceptionally good at reading people.”  
The man laughed. “Is that so?”  
“It is indeed,” he offered his hand for a handshake. “Jim.”  
“Sebastian.”

Jim watched Sebastian’s face closely. The recognition that flashed in his eyes registered for Jim and confirmed that he already knew who he was - that whoever it was who had hired him had given him his name. He knew he was talking to Jim Moriarty. But that information didn’t seem to scare him.

“So what’s that flag on your back? Don’t think I’ve seen that before.”  
“Ace.”  
“Ace?”  
“As in, asexual.”  
“Ah,” Sebastian blinked “But you still fuck men?” He gestured towards the flag in Jim’s hand, looking confused.  
Jim almost folded double with laughter, but he made an effort to keep his walking pace at least somewhat intact. “Well, yes,” he dragged a hand over his face, trying to stop laughing. “If you want to put it like that. Yes, I do.”

Nobody else, once they knew who he was, ever dared to be so blunt with him. And while the surprise of it had made him laugh, he did like it. It was refreshing to talk to someone who wasn’t afraid of him.

“Never bothered with specific labels myself,” Sebastian said. “Queer is good enough for me.”

They continued chatting for the rest of the parade. This kind of small-talk, the mundanity of it, would normally have bored Jim to death. But with Sebastian’s bluntness and the regularity with which he managed to make Jim laugh, he found himself genuinely enjoying it.

-

“You know why I’m really here, don’t you?” Sebastian asked.  
“You’re telling me you’re not just here to have a grand old time with the rest of us queers?”

The parade had ended and the crowd had started to disband. Some people were moving towards the train and the metro, already heading back home. Others were going in the direction of the big scene where a variety of bands and singers would start performing soon. And others still were walking in the direction of the nearest pub to start the night’s drinking early.

The temptation Jim felt to join in with the last group of people was difficult to resist, but he knew he couldn’t just walk away from Sebastian now.

“You know I’m not.”  
“Yes, I do know why you’re here,” Jim let the smile fall from his face for the first time since they had started talking. “But you seem to be doing a very poor job of it, seeing as I’m still standing here talking with you rather than lying in a bloody puddle on the ground.”

Sebastian sheepishly looked away for a second before looking back at Jim and answering.  
“I was gonna use this,” he lifted his shirt up slightly, just enough for Jim to see a syringe attached to the waistband of his trousers. “But…”  
“But you didn’t.”  
“But I didn’t.”  
“Why not? Because I charmed you?”  
“If anyone was doing any charming today, it was me,” he smiled. “But yeah, something like that. I have heard about you-”  
“Mmm obviously. Who hasn’t, these days?”  
“I’m starting to regret not killing you.”  
“Sorry. Go on.”  
“At first, I was fucking thrilled to have an opportunity to be the one who took out Jim Moriarty. That would have been a bragging right and a half. But the more I thought about it, the more I worried. What happens to everything when the mastermind behind it all dies?”  
“London would crash and burn. Actually, no,” Jim held up a finger in the air as he corrected himself. “The whole world would.”  
“Glad to know you’re not thinking too highly of yourself.”  
“You started it,” Jim smirked. And Sebastian couldn’t help but to smile back.  
“Anyway, I got more and more hesitant towards the whole thing. Second-guessing it all the way to hell and back,” he shrugged. “And you not being a total arse to talk to was what tipped things in your favour, I guess.”  
Jim laughed. “That’s probably the first time my personality has made someone _not_ want to murder me.”

They laughed together at that before going back to chatting about things that did not involve assassination. By now they were used to walk while they talked, so they wandered aimlessly around the city as they chatted.

-

Once the sun started to set, they had ran out of things to say and were walking together in a comfortable silence.  
Jim nodded towards a pub ahead of them.  
“Drinks?”  
“Sure.”


End file.
